1837.] 



Meteorological Observations- 



199 



6. A copy so verified, or the original, (the latter being preferred) 

 should be transmitted regularly (if possible monthly from places within 

 the limits of the colony) to tj\e Secretary of the South African Literary 

 and Philosophical Society, at Cape Town, which institution on its 

 part will take care that such documents shall not merely be treasured as 

 a dead letter in its archives, but shall be rendered available towards the 

 improvement of Meteorological knowledge, to the full extent of their 

 actual scientific value. 



7. The register of every instrument should be kept in parts of its 

 own scale, as read off, no reduction of Foreign measures or degrees to 

 British being made— but it should of course be stated what scale is used 

 in each instrument. 



II. Of the Times of Observation and Registry. 



Meteorological observations should be made and registered daily, at 

 stated and regular hours. In fixing on these, some sacrifice of system 

 must of necessity be made to the convenience and habits of the observer. 

 The best hours in a scientific point of view would be those of Sun-rise, 

 Noon, Sun-set, and Midnight, and these are the hours for which the re- 

 gisters are kept at the Royal Observatory. But these are not the hours 

 adapted to general habits, and since the midnight observation is likely to 

 be pretty generally neglected elsewhere than in an Astronomical Obser- 

 vatory, the following hours, for a division of the day into three parts, 

 are proposed for what may be deemed the Morning, Afternoon, and 

 Evening observations, viz. 



Morning 8 a. m. 



Afternoon. 2 p.m. 



Evening 8 p. m. 



If, however, the habits or engagements of any one should not allow 

 him to conform to these hours, rather than not observe he may select his 

 own, specifying only what they are at the head of every page of his re- 

 gister, and adhering steadily to them in practice, only observing to make 

 the extreme observations of each day equidistant from the middle one. 



At the same time it will be borne in mind, that in what concerns the 

 great Meteorological questions on which the most interesting features of 

 the subject depend, the night is quite as important as the clay, and has 

 hitherto been far too much neglected. To any one, therefore, who may 

 feel disposed to enter more zealously into the subject, and will not con- 

 sider some personal inconvenience ill undergone for the sake of affording 

 data of a peculiarly valuable description, this Committee would most 

 earnestly recommend the adoption, in preference to all others, of the 

 quaternary division of the 24 hours, as followed at the Royal Observa- 

 tory above alluded to. And they leave it to the consideration of the 

 Council, whether the keeping and transmission of registers on this prin- 

 ciple might not advantageously be distinguished by some honorary re- 



